Hey, who's still excited about Iowa?!?

[greengrl]

woohoo!  yum, from scratch!  ...and to think that i was going to resort to store brand condensed soup. 
[/quote]

bleh! no one can get better ingesting sodium and processed chicken i happen to have a fresh pot of homemade soup in my fridge at all times during the winter, fyi it's always there for the taking


[[/quote]

this is just me, but there's no way i'd go without health insurance if it can be helped. i'm pretty healthy, so its not the doctor visits that i'm worried about, but rather becoming ill or getting in an accident that requires hospitalization... on TOP of law school debt, i dont need any major medical bills following my into my early 30's!

hopeful20, that was a nice financial analysis you offered on the 7% cost of capital.

greengrl, you know chicken soup from scratch requires that you wring a chicken's neck and then pluck its feathers, right? i mean if you're *really* going to make it from scratch...
[/quote]

I agree that was a good financial analysis. It's true--at this point the chances of finding a short term investment with those rates of return are slim, therefore forego as much debt as you can and pay it now. Kevin, I"m with you. I can suffer through a cold or two but in the event of a car accident or major surgery the medical bills will drown you in debt. And let me tell you--they are NOT on a low fixed interest rate:) Hopeful, I thought I read that the school does require us to pay some sort of medical fee that includes use of the school clinic as well as emergency hospitalization. Maybe that's just for undergrad but one trip to the emergency room and the insurance has paid for itself. A trip to the emergency room is painfully expensive and god forbid you need medicine!

I don't really have a choice as I have meds that I need to take everyday for my asthma that cost a fortune! I don't have insurance right now and I can't take my medicine--one bout of bronchial spasms a few weeks ago scared the heck out of me. So unfortunately, I've got to suck it up. On the plus side, the plan is actually pretty good, and we couldn't ask for a more qualified medical team-the Univ of Iowa med school is very highly regarded.

just my two cents. however i will STILL provide homemade chicken noodle soup. Kevin-you're nuts! However, it *IS* Iowa and I'm fairly certain that I could raise chickens in the backyard and no one would be *overly* concerned

[gcs451]

Another thing to think about when considering whether or not to have health insurance is the pre-exisiting condition.  If you find out you have some sort of disease or get a reocurring medical condition while not on health insurance, most insurances will not cover that condition for a certain period of time. So if you think well if something serious does come up I while just get insurance then; most likely you will still have to wait up to a couple of years before the insurance will cover you for that condition.  My mom works for an insurance company and she says you never want to have a gap in health coverage, because after that they will try to say everything is a pre-existing condition.

[blocke123]

Are you guys going with the PLUS loan or a private loan?  Jessica said the PLUS loan's fixed rate is 6.9%.  That's actually not too bad, especially since it's fixed.

And on a totally different topic, are you guys all applying for the school's health insurance?  For a single person, it's like $80-something/month.  I'm not sure if that is worth it. 

Its obviously better to pay and not take out a loan right?  If you have the money... I can't imagine an investment that pays 7%...

well not necessarily.  the current spending value of the money that you do have may be higher than the amount you will have to pay in loans, if you took out the loan.  it really depends on how you spend your money if it's not going to be spent on law school.  for example, correct me if i'm wrong, the current interest rate for a mortgage is at least 10%. this is much higher than a good student loan interest rate.  so for some people, it would be wiser for them to pay off their mortgage and take out a loan for school than to put that money into going to school.  of course, there are also other situations where taking out a loan is better than paying with the money you have can apply.  However, if you're not planning on investing your money on something at this point, then it's probably a good idea to use it to pay for law school expensese and minimize the amount of loans you will need to take out.

Unless I want to go through a relatively risky investment mutual funds pay about 5% (or at least mine does).  Also, I don't have a home so I guess my throught process is valid.

I wonder if my wife worked for the University of Iowa hospitals if I could get in state tuition?  Any one with any experience on this?

[gcs451]

[/quote]

I wonder if my wife worked for the University of Iowa hospitals if I could get in state tuition?  Any one with any experience on this?
[/quote]

I looked into this somewhat and it would probably be possible if your wife worked for a year and then become a resident of Iowa.  And that would be true regardless of where she worked as long as it was in Iowa.  But I don't think just working for the University gets you automatice in-state residency. 

[blocke123]

I wonder if my wife worked for the University of Iowa hospitals if I could get in state tuition?  Any one with any experience on this?
[/quote]

I looked into this somewhat and it would probably be possible if your wife worked for a year and then become a resident of Iowa.  And that would be true regardless of where she worked as long as it was in Iowa.  But I don't think just working for the University gets you automatice in-state residency. 
[/quote]

I wonder if I could get residency next year purely due to the fact that she worked in Iowa.  I doubt it because Iowa requires that you move to the state for other than the purpose of attending school.

That sucks because I'm paying taxes for the school...

[greengrl]

I wonder if my wife worked for the University of Iowa hospitals if I could get in state tuition?  Any one with any experience on this?

I looked into this somewhat and it would probably be possible if your wife worked for a year and then become a resident of Iowa.  And that would be true regardless of where she worked as long as it was in Iowa.  But I don't think just working for the University gets you automatice in-state residency. 
[/quote]

I wonder if I could get residency next year purely due to the fact that she worked in Iowa.  I doubt it because Iowa requires that you move to the state for other than the purpose of attending school.

That sucks because I'm paying taxes for the school...
[/quote]

tell me about it. plus i'll probably have a job next year so i'll be working, paying taxes, registering my vehicle and i still can't be a resident. if i dont' get an RA position i'm going to seriously try and take a year off to gain residency. It's so ridiculous that we have to pay SO much more than residents and that RA positions are the only ways they give us to gain residency

[gcs451]

That's a good question.  If your wife moves to Iowa and works for a year she should qualify for residency, since she is not coming to Iowa to attend school.  I would think at the start of the second year you could apply for in-state status since your spouse would be a resident.  But I am not sure.

[hopeful20]

Another thing to think about when considering whether or not to have health insurance is the pre-exisiting condition.  If you find out you have some sort of disease or get a reocurring medical condition while not on health insurance, most insurances will not cover that condition for a certain period of time. So if you think well if something serious does come up I while just get insurance then; most likely you will still have to wait up to a couple of years before the insurance will cover you for that condition.  My mom works for an insurance company and she says you never want to have a gap in health coverage, because after that they will try to say everything is a pre-existing condition.

okay, so perhaps i was a little premature in saying no health insurance for me.     has anyone looked into it?  they mention on the website that they may increase your financial need if you apply for the health insurance, has anyone looked into that or talked to Jessica about it? 

http://www.law.uiowa.edu/students/studentservices-health-services.php  and you're right greengrl, it seems from their website that the Student Health Service does provide medical care for all registered students.  I called and they said that all doctor's visits at their health center are covered.  But anything beyond that is not.  Here are the rates for SHIP and UIGRADCare: http://www.uiowa.edu/hr/benefits/healthinfo/Docs/student_rates_07.pdf

has anyone found a better rate than this? 

[JoePa4Ever]

Hey, briefly, back to housing...who has opinions on the following properties:

1000 Oakcrest (River City Property Management)
1108 Oakcrest (RCPM)
Seville (Barker)
Emerald Court (Barker)
1054 Newton (Cruise)

I'm really trying to avoid flying out there just to look at these apartments, only to have to move there within three weeks.  So, if tenants or anyone familiar with these buildings would be willing, please drop me a line, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

[greengrl]

Hey, briefly, back to housing...who has opinions on the following properties:

1000 Oakcrest (River City Property Management)
1108 Oakcrest (RCPM)
Seville (Barker)
Emerald Court (Barker)
1054 Newton (Cruise)

I'm really trying to avoid flying out there just to look at these apartments, only to have to move there within three weeks.  So, if tenants or anyone familiar with these buildings would be willing, please drop me a line, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

I've got you on this one--avoid Barker management company like the PLAGUE. A lot of law students live in the Seville but if you read the reviews a lot of them are very unhappy. They don't have any one bedrooms left and for what you will pay for a two bedroom there you are far better off other places. Plus, they are REALLY unorganized and rude. I had an awful experience with Seville in particular and I woudl avoid them. Emerald is a bit over priced in my opinion--there are comparable units for better prices. I've seen them both in person. The on site management at Emerald seemed a bit better but they are still under the Barker name and I was really unimpressed with Barker owned properties.

Oakcrest pride Sorry, I'm living on that street River City Property Mgmt was recommended by someone else on this site and they seemed legit in my book. It's a close walk to the school, most of the units are older but well maintained. It's a college town, so if you want new construction it's expensive.

AS for the Newton property, I got nothing--no clue. Newton is close to campus though from what I understand.

hope that helps.
E